The present invention relates to an electrical controlling device, and, more particularly, to a multi-function electrical controlling device with a single actuating lever.
In the prior art it is well known to provide an electrical controlling device with an actuating lever which is adapted, for instance, to control switching of a variety of circuits as the lever is moved in the up-and-down, or the left-and-right, directions. Such devices are used, for instance, to control the operation of power-operated remote-control mirrors in automobiles. In this case, the power-operated remote-control mirror may be provided with a motor which can be operated in the one direction or the other as the D.C. voltage supplied to it is of the one or the other polarity, and which moves the mirror up and down when a solenoid in an electromagnetic clutch is energized, but which moves the mirror left and right when the solenoid is not energized. Therefore when a control switch has a lever which can be moved in the up-and-down and the right-and-left modes, this switch can control the motor and the solenoid at the same time, so that a mirror is adjusted in both the up-and-down and the left-and-right positions by operation of a single lever.
However, when several similar objects have to be controlled, as in the case of mirrors in automobiles, complications have arisen. It has been necessary to provide a plurality of controlling switches to correspond to the plurality of objects to be controlled. In the above example, with a vehicle which has two exterior mirrors, for instance, it has been necessary to provide two separate switches, one for controlling each of the mirrors. Therefore, the vehicle operator must first select which switch to use, and then adjust the mirror by using that switch.
Such problems further, are aggravated in the case that more than two similar devices need to be controlled in the same way.
In general, in a control device which has one lever which the operator may grip to operate the device, use has heretofore been made of movement of the end of the lever in both of the up-and-down and the left-to-right directions. Further, it is well known to use a control knob which is adapted to be twisted about its central axis for operation. However, movement in the twisting sense, where the lever is twisted so as to rotate about its long axis, has not been heretofore used in combination with the aforesaid two other movements. Theoretically, rotational movement of a body can be expressed by the rotations about three independent axes of rotation, and therefore if two of these three axes of rotation are to be used for the up-to-down and the left-to-right movement of a switching element, the rotation about the third axis should provide the maximum possible number of control functions theoretically available.